


Open-hearted

by filhadoboto



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Dany's titles, F/M, Jon and Dany talk about their past, Jon's Scars, Jonerys, Jon’s resurrection, The Unburnt, iceandfire, jonerysevents, missing moments from season 7, missing moments from season 7 month, scene between episodes 6 and 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 13:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15797874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/filhadoboto/pseuds/filhadoboto
Summary: After seeing Jon’s scars, Daenerys becomes very curious and goes to his cabin to know how he got them. In the stillness of the night, the two exchange stories as they return to Dragonstone.





	Open-hearted

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for 'Missing Moments for season 7 Month' on Tumblr.
> 
> English is not my native language, sorry for grammar errors. In google translate I trust!

The sight of Jon Snow's chest marked by scars shared the thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen with the mourning for the loss of her beloved son Viserion. And long before they got back to Dragonstone, her curiosity had already reached an unbearable level.

Tired of thinking about it and unable to find a plausible answer, Daenerys got dressed and left her cabin, determined. She needed to talk to Jon Snow. Maybe she would find him asleep or maybe she was lucky enough to find him awake and willing to talk about what happened to him. She needed to know how he had survived all those injuries. And she needed to hear the story through his mouth.

The ship was quiet and there was no one in the hallway to witness her visit to the King in the North. Not that this was a strange sight for any of the crew members, since she used to go to see him every day, although she was always accompanied by Missandei or Lord Tyrion or Ser Davos.

She hesitated in front of Jon's cabin door. What if he was offended by her questions? What if her curiosity made him uneasy?

"If I look back, I'm lost." she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She smiled when his voice, hoarse from the little use, told her to enter.

Contrary to what she expected, Jon Snow was no longer in bed. He was standing and staring out into the darkness outside the cabin window. The sea was strangely calm and the cloudless sky was propitious to looking at the stars.

"You should be resting, Jon Snow."

He turned toward her and looked surprised to see her "I already feel very well, Your Grace."

"Please, don’t be so formal when we're alone." she said as she walked over to him "You can just call me Dany." Although the name brought back bad memories of her living with her brother, the way Jon spoke it made her feel special.

He smiled, pleasantly surprised, and motioned her to a chair "How can I help you, Dany?"

She sat up and waited for him to take the chair in front of hers.

"I'm sorry I came to see you so late, but I couldn’t wait to talk to you." she began "I know we didn’t have a friendly start and it took us a long time to trust each other. However, I think that after everything we've been through, we can consider ourselves not only allies, but friends."

Jon nodded, serious "You saved my life and my men's lives. You not only risked your life as you lost one of your children for us. We are certainly much more than allies."

_Great_ , she thought, _now comes the hard part_.

"Then it wouldn’t be strange if I asked how you got those scars, would it?"

Jon looked at his own chest and his right hand rested on his heart.

"How did you...?"

"I saw them when we brought you to the boat and took off your clothes."

"And Ser Davos didn’t tell you what happened to me?"

"He told me that story was yours to tell. That only you had the right to tell it to me."

Jon looked surprised "He's right about that. This is a story I would like to tell you even if it isn’t an easy story to tell and much less easy to believe."

"If you don’t want to talk about it now, I will not insist. I can wait until you're ready."

Jon smiled. "I agree to tell my story if, first, you tell me how you got the 'un-burned' title. I was really intrigued by this."

Daenerys smiled "That's fair. This was one of my earliest titles and the story is a long one." She put her hands together on her legs and began "My brother Viserys and I lived in the free city of Pentos under the protection of a man named Illyrio Mopatis. Viserys was determined to resume the Seven Kingdoms and bring fire and blood to all our enemies, even if he had to sell his only family for that. Illyrio arranged my marriage with Khal Drogo and my brother hoped that the Khal would give him an army to help him retake Westeros in exchange for having given me to him as his bride. Of course none of them took into account what I wanted and I was forced to do everything they told me. It was at the wedding party that I received the three eggs that gave birth to my dragons."

"After the wedding, our Khalasar began the travel to Vaes Dothraki, where I would be presented to the Dosh Kaleen as the wife of Khal Drogo. It was a really difficult journey, and many times I thought about ending my own life in order to escape my suffering. Until the day I had a dream with a huge black dragon. In that dream he bathed me in his fire and when I woke up, I felt stronger, determined. From that day on, things began to get easier and I not only learned about the dothraki culture, but also learned to love my husband and admire the land we rode on. And it was during this travel that I became pregnant. I used to sleep with one of the dragon eggs next to my belly and sometimes I could feel the baby moving in my womb as if I also wanted to touch the egg."

Dany paused and for a few seconds she was lost in the memories of having her child growing in her womb. Jon handed her a glass of wine and she drank it before continuing her story "When we arrived at Vaes Dothraki, Viserys had already lost his temper and demanded that Drogo give him what he had been promised and threatened to tear the fetus from my womb and take me away. That night he paid with his own life for his impatience and petulance. After I was introduced to the Dosh Khaleen, our Khalasar returned to travel through the Dothraki sea. The Dothraki usually attack villages and take their residents as slaves and it was in one of those villages that I met the witch who would take away everything that was dearest to me. I didn’t stand to see the women being raped and I asked Drogo to give them to me, because only then could I protect them. One of Drogo's men didn’t approve of my interference and the two fought. Drogo was injured and the witch said she could help but what she actually did was poison him. Over the days he was getting weaker and I was not willing to lose my husband. So I asked her to use blood magic to save him and she told me that only life could pay for death. I was naive enough to believe that only the life of Drogo's horse would be enough to save him. That was my biggest mistake. For to keep life on Drogo, she took the life of our son and in return I received Drogo's body alive, but his mind was gone. He would never be the same again... and I... I killed him."

Daenerys wiped away a tear and took a deep breath before continuing "When a dothraki dies, it is customary for his body to be burned with his mount and with the treasures he had collected in his lifetime. I commanded they to prepare his pyre and place his treasures and the horse he rode there, and I prepared the body of Khal Drogo for his last ride to the night’s lands. I had a kind of intuition that told me that if I put the eggs on the funeral pyre and went into the fire with them, I could make the eggs hatch. So I put the dragon eggs next to his body and ordered the witch to be tied to the pyre as well. She had taught me that only death could pay for life and I had already paid with the life of my husband and son and now I would add hers to the list. The lives of the three would pay for the lives of my dragons. When the first star appeared in the sky, I lit the pyre. This star was a blood-red comet and I thought there could be no better omen for what I was about to do. When everything was on fire and the witch had stopped screaming, I gave myself up to the fire."

She smiled at the look of horror on Jon's face "The fire greeted me and showed me beautiful things. Around me men, women, children, and horses screamed. I wanted to shout back to them not to fear for me, for I was Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, and that the fire wouldn’t harm me. Then in the midst of the flames, I could hear the sound of breaking stone and that sound repeated twice more." She paused for a moment, touched by the memory of the birth of the dragons and took a deep breath "When the fire was extinguished I was there, in the midst of ashes and burned bones, untouched and alive and with my three dragons in my arms. The fire didn’t consume me and it was from there that I earned the titles 'the unburnt and mother of dragons'."

Jon stared at her, gaping "And no one tried to stop you?"

She smiled "Ser Jorah not only tried to convince me otherwise as he tried to make me run away with him to Asshai. He thought that because of the pain of loss, I wanted to join my husband and son in death. But I knew what I was doing."

"I had no idea the Targaryen were fire resistant."

"My brother wasn’t and many of my ancestors died trying to prove they were fire resistant. I could have died just like them, but I had nothing left but the faith that everything would work out. It was because of my faith in myself that I got my dragons and then started the journey that would bring me here." Jon was looking at her with admiration and she felt herself blushing.

"It must have been an incredible sight to see you going into the fire and then to see you alive and with the dragons." He smiled and his gray eyes glittered.

Daenerys saw that there was a brazier in the cabin. She got up and asked Jon to follow her.

"It's not the same as a campfire, but it will do." She then put her palm over the coals and Jon's first reaction was to take her hand away. When he examined her hand and saw that her skin was still intact, he looked at her with startled, amazed eyes.

"Wow, this is both amazing and scary at the same time." he said reexamining her hand.

"Sometimes I get scared for not hurting myself too." He released her hand "Now it's your turn."

He looked away from her and they sat down again "I must remind you that this isn’t a nice story." There was pain in his voice.

"You don’t have to tell me all the details. I... I just need to know how you survived all those injuries. "

Jon looked at her for a long time and seemed to decide how he would tell his story to her. "The truth... the truth Dany, is that... the truth is I didn’t survive." She looked at him confused. "These injuries were fatal. I was dead for about two days until I was brought back to life."

Daenerys looked at him, intrigued "But... that doesn’t... how? Who killed you?"

Jon took a deep breath. "Before I say how I came back to life, I think you should know what led to my murder."

She nodded. Jon closed his eyes and let the painful memories flow into his mind "When I was elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, I had already met one of the creatures in Castle Black and destroyed it and had already spent enough time with the free folk to know that they weren’t our real enemies. They just had the misfortune to be born on the wrong side of the Wall. When I learned that they had gathered in Hardhome, a village of the free folk that lies on the shore beyond the Wall, I organized a rescue mission and my intention was to save as many of them as possible. I went there accompanied by one of their leaders, Tormund, the red-haired man who was with us on the hunt. I proposed an alliance between the Night’s Watch and the free folk, I would let them pass to the south side of the Wall, give them part of the Night’s Watch lands and in return we would fight together against the Night King and his army when the time should come. Most agreed to accompany us and when they were boarding our ships, the place was attacked by the White Walkers and their army of the dead. Many of the free folk were killed and this was the first time we saw the Night King and what he is capable of doing. There were corpses scattered everywhere and he just had to raise his hands and all those who died stood up like soldiers in his army. That isn’t a sight you can easily forget."

"When we returned to the Castle Black, most of my brothers had already accepted my decision and realized that I wouldn’t change my mind. It had become obvious to them that saving the lives of the free folk was more important to me than letting the Night King add them to his army or remembering the bloody past between them and the Night’s Watch. But there were those who believed that I was making a gigantic mistake and that by letting the free folk through the gate of the Wall, I was betraying all that the Night's Watch meant to them. And it was these brothers who set an ambush to kill me. My intendant, a boy who had survived a free folk attack a few months before, drew me out of my quarters with the excuse that one of the rescued had heard of my Uncle Benjen who had been lost beyond the Wall years ago. When I arrived in the courtyard, I found a sign where the word 'traitor' was written and when I turned around I was hit by the first dagger." Jon stopped and placed his hand where he had received the first stabbed "With each stroke they said ‘for the Watch’... and I couldn’t believe that my own brothers were doing this to me..." he breathed deeply "So... they left me there in the snow... bleeding to the death."

Jon got up and poured more wine for them. He sat down and took a long sip. Daenerys looked at him and waited for him to continue.

"My direwolf Ghost, Ser Davos and some brothers loyal to me found my body and protected it until Dolorous Edd was able to bring Tormund and a few others of his people to help regain control of Castle Black and arrest those who betrayed me. My friends were already preparing to burn my body, but Ser Davos wasn’t ready to give up. It was he who had the idea of asking the R'hllor's priestess who accompanied King Stannis to try to bring me back to life. She had never tried to do something like that, but she knew it was possible that the Red God could bring me back if that was his will. So she did some kind of ritual and asked R'hllor to bring me back, and when everyone thought it wouldn’t work, I came back to life." Jon paused and drank more wine "It was a huge shock to wake up and see the wounds and remember what had happened. I knew I shouldn’t be among the living, but for some reason, the Red God had sent me back. And even without knowing why I had been brought back, I decided to keep going. My vows were clear, I would serve the Night’s Watch until my death. I had died and saw no reason to remain there after all that had happened. And before I left the Night's Watch, I executed those who betrayed me."

Daenerys's face was wet with her tears as she held his hand "I'm sorry you were betrayed by your brothers, Jon. I too have been betrayed by those whom I trusted. I've known that pain too."

He reached out and wiped her tears gently "It wasn’t easy to look into their eyes and see how much they hated me for wanting to save the lives of free folk."

"Not everyone can understand how precious a life is. How much each of them deserves to be saved. That it is worth fighting for those who cannot save themselves. You did what few are willing to do." She smiled and gave his hand a gentle squeeze "You really gave your life for your people. Now I see that the North couldn’t have chosen a better King."

He smiled "If R'hllor's priestess hadn’t tried to bring me back, perhaps my people wouldn’t have the chance to prepare to face the army of the dead. And, instead of allied with the free people, they would have lost time trying to kill them. And when the Night King came, he would have no one to kill." Then his face was sad "After we retake Winterfell, I learned of the crimes the priestess had committed and had to banish her from the North. Although I was grateful that she had brought me back, I couldn’t allow her to stay by my side without paying for her actions. She murdered innocents in the name of her beliefs and not to have to kill her, I sent her away and said that if she returned North, I would be forced to execute her. "

"What is the name of this priestess?"

"Melisandre. Melisandre of Asshai."

"When I arrived at Dragonstone, I was visited by a Red God’s priestess and that was her name. It was this same priestess who asked me to summon you to Dragonstone. She told me that I needed to hear about everything you had lived and seen with your own eyes and... and she also said that we both have an important role in a prophecy."

"Prophecies." Jon snorted "She used to say the same about Stannis Baratheon. She convinced him that he was Azor Ahai reborn. And his faith in this prophecy eventually led to his death and all who followed him." Jon said exasperatedly "Did she also tell you about the Azor Ahai prophecy?"

"No. The prophecy she referred to was 'the prince or princess who was promised will bring the dawn’. And she believes that you and I have a role to play in this prophecy."

Jon gave her a half smile "Dany, I can assure you I'm not a prince. I am only a bastard son acclaimed King by his people."

"The blood of the old Kings of Winter runs in your veins, Jon. Even if you aren’t the rightful son of Ned Stark. "

"You're right." He smiled "Maybe I could be that prince of this prophecy or maybe not, but I know I'll fight until my last breath to defend our people and defeat the Night King and his army."

"And you're not alone in this fight anymore."

He nodded "And if we are lucky, Cercei Lannister will join us and help us win this war."

They looked at each other for a long time, and it was Daenerys who again interrupted their contact. "Thank you for sharing your story with me."

"I'm glad it was me telling you. And thank you for telling me yours too. "

Daenerys nodded and got to her feet "I'm going to retire and let you rest. Have a good night, Jon."

"You too, Dany."

He said her name tenderly, and before she could stop herself, Daenerys placed a soft kiss on his cheek. And before Jon could even understand what had just happened, she was gone.

When Daenerys Targaryen went to Jon Snow in search of his story, she hadn’t imagined it would be so sad and painful. Jon was a man who had fought to defend the weak and his own brothers had taken his life. And had it not been for the Red God's mercy, she would never have known him.

She went back to her cabin and prepared to sleep. As she lay on her bed and settled down, Daenerys couldn’t fail to thank all the gods for their paths have had crossed. And when she closed her eyes, the only thing she could think of was that falling in love with Jon Snow was as inevitable as the sunrise.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thanks for reading it!
> 
> Did you like it? Didn't? Please, let me know. Leave a comment. Leave kudos.
> 
> Say "Hello" to me on Tumblr and Twitter: @filhadoboto


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